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Friday, March 25, 2011

Slay Your Inner Darth Vader

Those of you that know me know that I'm a bit of a Sci-Fi fan. I'm not a total nut job about it or anything, but I do enjoy watching Star Trek, Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, basically anything with "Star" in it.

The other day, Return of the Jedi happened to be on Spike, so I figured I'd flip it on for a bit. One scene that really stuck with me is when Luke turns himself in to Vader on Endor (or is it Endor's forest moon? I never understood that one. They really should've been more specific than "the forest moon of Endor," but I digress…).

At any rate, Luke is trying to turn Vader good, but Vader has all of these excuses lined up like a whiny little bitch. "You can't imagine the power of the dark side," "It is…too late…for me, son," "Waaa, waaa, baby needs his ba-ba."

The whole time, I found myself thinking, "fuck this guy." So many people use this same bullshit excuse. "You can't imagine the power of __________." "My parents." "My job." "My TV addiction." "Boozing." "my lazy, fat ass." Get over yourself. This is no excuse. Everybody has their vices and responsibilities, and sure, vices can all be fine in moderation, and some responsibilities can be non-negotiable (like if you have kids). But when they start to interfere with the life you want to lead, you have a big fucking problem. Cut down on the vices. Find ways to make more time to do what you want to do. You can't abandon your kids, but you sure as shit can get up early or stay up later to work on your passion project. Once you realize that the one with the power is you and you alone, you'll be much happier with your life and the impact you're making.

The other line, "it is…too late…for me, son," is a similarly pathetic cop-out. You may be comfortable with where you're at, settled into a certain standard of living that provides just enough comfort to keep you feeling "okay" with how things are going. But you might have a feeling, deep down, that there should be something else that you should be doing with your time on this planet. It's never too late to start doing what you want to do. You just need to make an affirmative decision to start changing your life. Little steps become big, life-changing steps. If you want to write a book, write a page per day. Before the year is over, you have your book. But you'll never finish if you never start.

So the next time you hear James Earl Jones' that whiny voice in your head, cut it down with your lightsaber. Just like Luke in the cave in Empire, kill that old fuck. That voice doesn't run your life. You run your life. It's never too late to start making changes. Get out there and make something of yourself.